AR residents fight to clear town of stray dogs after horse attack

Bradley Police Chief James Harris says his department is doing everything it can to resolve the city's stray dog problem.

Residents in one southwest Arkansas town say their Lafayette County town has a major problem with stray dogs, and now they want the city to take action before someone gets hurt.

That's a concern of Jon and Kathy Center, Bradley, Arkansas residents who lost a beloved member of the family -- their horse -- to the stray dogs.

"These are pictures [taken when] we brought him home in the back of the van, Kathy Center says. She and Jon Center reminisce about good times they had with Dusty, a registered American Miniature Horse.

But Dusty had to be put down after being attacked by several dogs.

"And when I went running out, I went screaming and hollering, and that's when the dogs went off across here," Kathy Center says.

Now, the Centers say the stray dogs in Bradley are causing a safety issue for the community.

"There is no way a child could make it through this brutal attack that these dogs have brought upon. If they are bold enough to attack a horse, they are bold enough to attack a child," she says.

The Centers say the City of Bradley is not doing enough to combat the stray dog problem.

Bradley Police Chief James Harris disagrees.

"We are like every other small city: With our dogs we are looking for them, trying to catch them, and taking them to the vet," Harris says, adding that the city is doing all it can but that its hands are tied.

"We are short-handed, as far as manpower. And the finances is not there. But some of the citizens don't think we are doing enough, but we are doing the best we can with what we have to work with," the chief says.

Bradley does not have shelter to house stray animals, so the Center family has donated a pen to hold the dogs if they are captured.

Kathy Center says that, though their efforts to get the stray dogs off the streets will never bring Dusty back, "I want something done. I want the children safe, because by no means are the children safe now."

The Centers say they would like to see the city require all dog owners to license and tag their animals.